The Canadian dollar was flat Friday amid a bigger than expected slide in Canadian manufacturing shipments and positive Chinese economic data.

The loonie was unchanged at 101.54 cents US after Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales declined 1.4 per cent in October to $48.8 billion. Economists had expected a dip of 0.2 per cent.

The agency said the slide reflected drops in the aerospace product and parts, motor vehicle assembly and primary metal industries. These declines were partly offset by higher sales in petroleum and coal products as well as the wood product industries.

Commodities had advanced earlier in the morning after HSBC Corp. released its preliminary China Purchasing Managers' Index for December, which showed greater expansion in the manufacturing sector of the world's second-biggest economy. The index rose to 50.9 from November's 50.5.

China has a huge appetite for commodities, which has sent prices higher for oil and metals in the past, along with the energy and mining stocks on the TSX.